Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Three Quick Tips For Remembering the Fruit of the Spirit

Let's face it--memorizing scripture can be very challenging. Many Christians only have a vague notion of what the books of the Bible are and forget about knowing how they fall in order. However, I would venture that many Christians would like to learn more, even memorize more, of the Bible. They just struggle with remembering what last week's sermon was about, let alone all the Books of the Bible, the Beatitudes, or the Fruit of the Spirit. Memorizing lists doesn't have to be hard. They just require mnemonic devices and occasional refreshing. Here are three quick tips that can help you remember the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)  in order:

1. Remember that there are 9. Three sets of three (3+3+3).

2. Each of these three sets increases in syllables. The fruit in the first set have one syllable: love, joy, peace. The ones in the second set have two syllables: pa-tience, kind-ness, good-ness. And the ones in the third set have three syllables: faith-ful-ness, gen-tle-ness, and self-con-trol.

These two tips alone helped me remember the list, but if you still struggle to remember them there is always...


3. Learn the song. Campy children's songs stick in your brain forever, and if they come with hand motions so much the better. If you're not much of a fan of Sunday school songs, you might try inductive Bible study instead. After spending 9-12 hours on in-depth study on a passage, you usually can't forget it if you try. The trick here, whatever it is, is to make logical anchors in the brain.



Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.




16 comments:

  1. ANother way:
    Loving Jesus Please (Love Joy Peace)
    Pardon King George (Patience, Kindness, Goodness)
    For Going Shopping (Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control)

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    1. Thanks for joining in the conversation. I wonder if I could remember Loving Jesus Please Pardon King George For Going Shopping any better? Whatever helps someone remember!

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    2. I just love this idea! can't wait to try it! I would love to find something like this for the beatitudes. Any suggestions? I am on facebook if you would like to message me. Thanks again!

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    3. I just love this idea! can't wait to try it! I would love to find something like this for the beatitudes. Any suggestions? I am on facebook if you would like to message me. Thanks again!

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    4. I like this mnemonic, it is really interesting.... Love Jesus Please.... etc. Thank you for sharing this :)

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  2. The increasing syllables rule is excellent. Amazing how smart some people are. Thank you Lord.

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  3. The increasing syllables rule is excellent. Amazing how smart some people are. Thank you Lord.

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  4. LOVE, PATIENCE, PEACE, GOODNESS, GENTLENESS, FAITHFULNESS, JOY, KINDNESS, SELF-CONTROL
    LPPGGFJKS
    (Loud PeoPle GiGgle From JoKeS
    ;)

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  5. This is the Phrase I use: it gives me the 1st letter of each fruit. That’s all I need.

    let Jesus prepare people 2 know God for God shall Call

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  6. Thank you so much. I have been looking for or trying to think of an acronym for my Children's Church. It is greatly appreciated.

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  7. Wow... I did not know anyone else had ever though of the 3-3-3 syllable rule. I have told others about it but never heard anyone else tell me they knew about it. I think that is just how my brain decided it could remember. It is actually pretty common that people use different wording like forbearance for patience,meek for faithful, temperance for self-control, etc.

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  8. Been thinking of some mnemonic ways to remember... these are all kind of rough and could be smoothed out a little:

    Long Journey? Pack & Prepare: Gun, Fishing Gear, Swimming-Clothes.

    Love Jesus,Prepare People, Know God, Fellowship Good Servants.

    Let Jesus Pick People Knowing God Finds Good Samaritans

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  9. Let's Go Fish Souls just preaching (the) Lord's gospel (and) Kingdom.



    The words in bracket are Excluded.

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. Here it is over two years since your last comment, and I want you to know you are still helping people. I love the increasing syllables idea. Just what I needed to stop confusing the order of goodness and gentleness!

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